Handout 3

Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine

Department of Aeronautics

Third Year
Energy Methods
2.4 Principle of virtual work

In this section we will derive the principle of virtual work for a 3D case. We will prove
that for the compatibility equation (2.11) the resulting governing equations are equivalent
to the di erential equation (2.5) and the force boundary condition (2.6).
2.4.1 Virtual work of the internal forces
Let us rst analyse the cases of uniaxial straining and pure shear of a di erential volume.
dy
dx

dy
yz

dx
yy

yy
dy
y

yy +
dz
z

yz
dz

y
v

v dy + v dy
v+
y
y

yz

For the case of uniaxial straining, the work of the internal force
yy + @@yyy dy dxdz
acting on the di erential volume over the corresponding virtual displacement

dVi =
yy +

@ v

@y dy

is

@
yy
@ v
@ v
dy dxdz dy =
yy dxdzdy =
yy yy dV
@y
@y
@y

where yy = @@yv
follows from the compatibility equation (2.11) applied to virtual displacements and virtual strains. For the case of pure shear, a similar result ends up in
{ 21 {

dVi =
yz dxdy yz dz =
yz yz dV

so that for a general stress-strain state we may deduce the following internal virtual work

Vi =

Z
V

(
xxxx +
yy yy +
zz zz +
xy xy +
yz yz +
zx zx )dV =

Z
V


t dV: (2:23)

2.4.2 Virtual work of the applied loads

Assuming a virtual displacement vector eld u we may deduce the virtual work done by
the distributed volume and surface loads from the following gure.

z
y

Pv

Ps
Sp

u
dS
Su

dV

It should be noted that the virtual displacements must be kinematically admissible, therefore no virtual displacements may exist on the part of the surface with prescribed displacements Su . By de nition, a work di erential is a scalar product between a force and
a displacement di erential, therefore the work done by the distributed volume loading P v
on the virtual (i.e. di erential) displacement (over dV ) may be stated as dVe = u
P v dV =
 t P v dV
u

and the work done by the distributed surface loading

Ps

over the virtual dis-

placement of the di erential area of surface dS is dVe = u t P s dS . The total external

virtual work is then

Ve =

Z
V

ut P

v dV

{ 22 {

Z
Sp

 t P s dS:
u

(2:24)

2.4.3 Principle of virtual work and di erential equilibrium equations

The principle of virtual work Vi ; Ve = 0 follows from (2.23) and (2.24) as

Vi ; Ve 

Z
V

t dV

Z
;

ut P

v dV

Z
;

Sp

 t P s dS
u

= 0:

(2:25)

In Section 1.3 we claimed that the principle of virtual work is equivalent to the equilibrium
equations of the problem for the known compatibility and constitutive equations. We will
now not only prove this claim for the current general 3D deformation state, but also show
that in order to do so we in fact need only the compatibility equations (the constitutive
equations, however, are still needed to fully de ne the problem). We will need the following
two important transformations in the process:
1) Substituting (2.11) into the integrand of the internal virtual work we obtain
t  =

;Dtu t  = ;u tD 

(2:26)

where the term within the parentheses is (note that D is given in (2.4))

u v w i

2@
64 @x0
0

@
@y

0
0

@
@z

@
@y
@
@x

@
@z
@
@y

3
0 75 =

@
@z

@
@x

@ u @ v @ w @ u @ v @ v @ w @ u @ w
+
+
+ i:
@x @y @z @y @x @z @y @z @x

Noting t = h
xx
yy
zz
xy
yz
zx i, the integrand (2.26) can now be written as


t  = @ u
xx + @ v
yy + @ w
zz + @ u + @ v
xy + @ w + @ v
yz + @ w + @ u
zx

@x
@y
@z
@y @x
@y @z
@x @z
@
@
@
= @x
(u
xx + v
xy + w

 zx ) + @y
(u
xy + v
yy + w

 yz ) + @z
(u
zx + v
yz + w

 zz )

{ 23 {

u

 @

@
xy
+
@x
@y
xx

@
zx
@z

v

@ @ @
= h @x
@y @z

;h

u v w i

 @

xy

@x

0
2 u
B
B
B
40
B
B
@ 0

@
yy
@y

@
yz
@z

0 0 v 0
v 0 u w
0 w 0 v

w

 @

zx

@x

8
xx 91
>
>
>
3

yy >
C
>
>
w <
=
C


0 5 >
zz >C
C
u > xy >C
>
:
yz >
A

@
yz
@y

@
zz
@z

0
BB2 @x@
BB64 0
B@ 0

@
@y

0
0

@
@y
@
@x

@
@z
@
@y

@
@z

2 u
Introducing notation Du
= 4 0

zx
8
xx
91
>
>
3
>
@

yy >
>
>
@z <
=C
C


7
zz
05
C
C:
>
xy >C
@
>
yz >
@x >
: >
A

zx

0 0 v 0 w
v 0 u w 0 5, (2.26) thus turns out to be
0 0 w 0 v u

t  = div (Du
) ; u t (D) 

(2:27)

and the principle of virtual work (2.25) becomes

Vi ; Ve 

Z
V

div (Du
) dV

Z
;

2) For any continuous vector eld

 (

+ P v ) dV

ut D

Z
;

Sp

 t P s dS
u

= 0:

(2:28)

with continuous partial derivatives de ned on a

3D domain V within a closed surface S with outward normal n, the following Gauss's
divergence theorem is valid:

Z
V

div adV =

(2:29)

n
adS:

The rst term in (2.28) can be transformed using the divergence theorem as

Z
V

div (Du
) dV =

I
Sp
Su

n
(Du
) dS

{ 24 {

Z
Sp

nt Du
dS +

Z
|

Su

nt Du
dS 

{z

=0

(2:30)

where

t
Su n Du
dS

vanishes identically due to the kinematical admissibility of virtual

displacements: on Su the displacements are prescribed, hence the virtual displacements

within Du
on Su are all zero. Substituting nt Du
= u t Dn into equation (2.30) then yields

div (Du
) dV =

t
Sp u D n dS

Vi ; Ve  ;

Z
V

and the principle of virtual work (2.28) nally becomes

 t (D + P v ) dV
u

Z
Sp

 t (Dn  ; P s ) dS
u

= 0:

(2:31)

Since this result must be valid for arbitrary virtual displacements u , the following di erential equilibrium equation and the surface-load boundary condition are obtained

D + P v

=0

on

(2:32)

Dn  ; P s

=0

on

Sp 

(2:33)

thus proving that for the compatibility equations (2.11) the principle of virtual work yields
the di erential equation of equilibrium (2.5) and the force boundary condition (2.6).

2.5 Principle of stationary total potential energy

The same result can also be obtained from the principle of stationary total potential
energy. The total potential energy for the problem is

 = ;U = ;

Z
V

ut P v dV

Z
;

Sp

ut P s dS

where for a linear elastic material  = 
, with  given in (2.22), and  = 21

1
2 V

t dV ,

thus giving
{ 25 {

t
V

dV

=

Z 1
V

t 
; ut P


v

dV

Z
;

Sp

ut P s dS:

(2:34)

Varying the total potential energy (2.34) and employing the condition of stationarity yields

Z ;

t 

 

 ut P v dV

Sp

 ut P s dS = 0:

(2:35)

This equation may be dealt with in the same way as (2.25), provided virtual displacements

u

and virtual strains 
in (2.25) and (2.27) are substituted with the variations of the

displacements and strains  u and 
. In this way (2.35) transforms into

 

Z
V

div (Du ) dV

2 u
with Du = 4 0

Z
;

 ut D

+ P v ) dV

Z
;

Sp

 ut P s dS = 0

(2:36)

0 v 0 w
v 0 u w 0 5. Applying the divergence theorem (2.29) to
0 0 w 0 v u
(2.36), and bearing in mind that the displacements cannot be varied on the part Su of the
surface with prescribed displacements, nally produces

  ;

Z
V

 ut (D + P v ) dV

Z
Sp

 ut (Dn  ; P s ) dS = 0

(2:37)

which is equivalent to (2.31) obtained using the principle of virtual work. Equation (2.37)
must be satis ed for arbitrary variations  u of the displacements, resulting in

D + P v

= 0 on V

and

Dn  ; P s

= 0 on Sp

(2:38)

and thus restoring the di erential equation (2.5) and the natural boundary condition (2.6)
in the same way as in (2.31)-(2.33) using the principle of virtual work.
{ 26 {